News and views about the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 and other legislation, schemes and policies impacting the Right to Education of India's Children.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Scheme in Nagaland

The
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is the most significant effort of Govt. of
India initiated in November 2000 as a Centrally-sponsored scheme, to
ensure universal elementary education (of all children in the age group
6-14 years). The broad objectives of SSA are :(a)enrolment of all
children in schools, Education Guarantee Scheme centres, alternate
schools and `back-to-school` camps; (b) retention of all children till
upper primary stage; (c) bridging gender and social category gaps in
enrolment, retention and learning; and (d) ensuring significant
enhancement in learning achievement levels of children at primary and
upper primary stages. The scheme got a thrust when it became a medium to
implement Right to Education (RTE) Act which came into force on 1st
April, 2010. The SSA, a major flagship scheme of the UPA Govts., is
unlikely to be discontinued but may be tweaked and reoriented for
better outcomes. Nagaland, as a beneficiary State, is one of the stake
holders, and all concerned in the State should perforce, be conscious of
implementing the scheme with seriousness and efficiency. Nagaland,
with a position in the Human Development Index relatively better than
many States of the Indian Union, should be enthusiastic about SSA.

An
outlay of Rs. 231230 crore was sanctioned for implementation of SSA
in the country as a whole under RTE Act, for the period (2010-11) to
(2014-15). Rs. 183640 crore (79 per cent) is for recurring expenditure
and Rs. 47590 crore (21 per cent) for non-recurring expenditure. Rs. 88
crore, Rs. 98 crore, Rs. 112 crore and Rs. 158 crore were released as
part of the Centre`s share under SSA to Nagaland, and the State Govt.
had funded Rs. 12 crore, Rs. 5 crore, Rs. 14 crore and Rs.15 crore
during the years (2010-11), (2011-12), (2012-13) and (2013-14)
respectively. This has been broadly within the pattern of funding :
Centre`s share 90 per cent as applicable for Special Category States
with the State`s share being 10 per cent with adjustment of unspent
balances. The Centre has an outlay of Rs. 292 crore under SSA for
(2014-15). The extent of the State`s financial commitment will be clear
after finalization of Nagaland Govt.`s general budget (2014-15) in
coming July. The 13th Finance Commission has also awarded a small
performance-oriented grant of Rs. 7 crore to Nagaland.

As
a result of the State`s efforts and the support under SSA, Nagaland has
shown some positive outcomes. The Gross Enrolment Ratios (GER)
indicate that, the State is doing well in enrolment at primary and upper
primary school levels. Official statistics compiled by Union Ministry
of Human Resources Development (MHRD), indicate that the State is above
the national average GER at both primary and upper primary levels.
Furthermore, the State`s annual dropout rate at primary level has also
improved over the recent years as evident from the rate declining from
11.41 in (2009-10) to 5.46 in (2012-13) though, the rate at upper
primary level has increased from 2.95 in (2011-12) to 10.52 in
(2012-13).

The latest National
Achievement Survey (sponsored by UNICEF) published by National Council
of Education Research and Training (NCERT) as per its Class-3 (Cycle 3),
however shows that, at the north-east regional level, Nagaland
students fared below Tripura, Mizoram, Sikkim and Manipur in regard to
Language skills and were marginally below the national average. So far
as ability in Mathematics was concerned, Nagaland students performed
below Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and Sikkim and were also below the
national average. Performance of the State`s urban students was lower
than the national average in Language skills, while rural students were
at par with the national average. Performance of Nagaland`s urban
students was well below the national average in Mathematics, while for
rural students it was marginally higher. In this backdrop, the State has
to make further efforts to improve in these areas by deriving full
benefits of the programmes under SSA.

Under
SSA, till 2014-15 on a cumulative basis, 490 primary schools and 593
upper primary schools have been sanctioned for Nagaland. Of these, 945
are operational. 97 primary schools and 41 upper primary schools are yet
to be opened. The Central Govt. had also stepped in to a substantial
extent towards creating physical assets like new school buildings,
refurbishing existing dilapidated buildings, providing toilets and
urinals in the SSA schools as well as separate toilets for girl students
and drinking water facilities.

Nagaland
had reported 6692 out-of-school children in 2013-14. The Central Govt.
had consequently approved Rs. 4.72 crores on account of special training
for mainstreaming out-of-school children in regular schools in the
current financial year. While cognizance of this need is a welcome
development, it is encouraging to note that the Project Approval Board
(concerned with annual works plans and budgets) of SSA, have
appreciated the need for executing a comprehensive programme for
Science and Mathematics at upper primary levels. Some funds have also
been earmarked for this purpose, and residential training for more than
1200 Mathematics and Science teachers at block level and thereafter, at
cluster level, planned for the current financial year. These efforts
should lead to positive outcome towards improvement of cognitive
capacity and skills of the State`s children.

Nagaland,
despite achieving a degree of success on the school education front,
still have some issues to contend with. The State has shown high
drop-out rates and low retention rates in five districts viz. Mon ( 12);
Tuensang (14.3); Zunebhoto (8.4); Phek (8.3); and Wokha (7.2).
Corrective measures are required to remedy the situation, and the
effectiveness of schemes like Mid-Day Meal Scheme which are intended to
attract children to schools, need to be re-assessed vis-à-vis these
districts. The average drop-out rate of 5.5 at primary level though not
inferior to the national average , can be improved. There is a
requirement to improve average attendance rate of teachers at primary
and upper primary levels as was evident from the rates of 76.5 and 69.4
respectively, in 2012-13. It will require a substantial effort on the
part of the State Govt. as well as the SSA programme office in Nagaland
to upgrade the educational status of their children both at primary and
upper primary levels, considering the not-too-adequate performance in
the attainment of language and computing skills. The State was at par
with the national average in Class-5 for Mathematics and, above for
reading, comprehension and Environmental Science. Nevertheless, the
State was below national average in Class-8 for Language, Social
Science, Mathematics and Science. These developments seem to indicate
that, Nagaland is capable of improvement through appropriate
interventions while implementing SSA and complementary State Govt.
programmes.

Another important issue
concerns the welfare of the teachers under the SSA scheme. There are
some issues in this regard. As stated above, the overall funding of SSA
has been substantial. However, the State has not been able to fully
deploy its share of funds, on the scheme, leading to periodic
constraints. The Centre finds it difficult within the existing
governmental budgetary - cum - accounting system and audit controls to
continuously release funds when release of intermediate shares of the
State Govt. are pending. Without the State`s 10 per cent matching share,
the major share of flow of funds from the Centre has been getting
affected. There has been dissatisfaction and unrest among the teachers
under SSA, owing to non-disbursement of salary to them on a regular
basis. This situation should hopefully improve after release of Rs. 21
crore at the end of the last financial year (as reported by the State to MHRD).
Both the Centre and the State need to evolve a mechanism for unimpeded
flow of funds as related to the activities decided by the PAB of SSA,
for sustaining this major welfare-oriented scheme and augmenting the
targeted outcomes.

The
author is Shri Gautam Sen (IDAS:Retd.), presently serving as Adviser
(Finance Commission matters) of Govt. of Nagaland, and has functioned
earlier as Financial Adviser of North Eastern Council under Union
Ministry of Home Affairs during the Ninth Plan period. The views
expressed are the author`s own and do not represent the opinion of
either the Central Govt. or the State Govt. of Nagaland.